San Diego Comic-Con 2011: Artist Tara McPherson

If the story of San Diego Comic-Con could be immortalized as a comic book itself, the origin story would tell of the early convention days in the late 1960’s when only a mere three hundred folks would get together to celebrate the comic arts. Forty-two years later, the subject matter has expanded to include movies, television, video games and just about anything related to the pop culture of today.

True convention goers and nerds alike will never forget the true meaning of Comic-con, however- the arts. It’s important to respect the artists that have made America’s biggest comic book convention possible which is why I decided to have a brief one on one with my favorite recurring artist at Comic-Con, Tara McPherson. Her ethereal paintings and serigraphs, commonly in gentle pastel tones of pink and green, generally feature female figures in mesmerizing, chimerical dream-like states. I first noticed Tara’s work during my first trip to Comic-Con four years ago and this year had the opportunity to speak with her.

This was McPherson’s thirteenth year attending SDCC but, of those years, this is her eighth displaying her artwork in her own booth. Starting out in the famed Artists’ Alley section of the convention, she eventually advanced to the surrounding section of the exhibit floor where she now sells original art pieces, prints, and apparel with repeating themes that she says are taken from her favorite subject, human relationships. McPherson cites the male and female dynamic as her primary inspiration, focusing on the ideas of loss, gain, desperation and hope in matters such as love. A popular motif in many of her paintings involve heart shaped holes through the chests of the pictures’ subjects, a kind of “broken heart” idea, alluding once more to the emotional influence.

Tara has contributed to the comics and pop culture worlds in an ever expanding list of ways. She’s dabbled in toy design and has worked with regular SDCC attendees Kidrobot and Toy2R and also has designed promotional posters for musical acts including Modest Mouse and The Melvins. Pertaining more to the comic book industry, she’s illustrated assorted covers for DC Vertigo and has worked on titles like The Witching and Thessaly. In addition, this year at the convention she made herself available to her fans with signings at the Dark Horse and Hi-Fructose booths, as well as her own, and was on the Vinyl Frontier panel along to discuss the vinyl toy industry along with fellow designers Frank Kozik, Keith Poon and Jermaine Rogers.

Tara McPherson’s whimsical and moody portrayals of life have hypnotized me and inspired me to start collecting more art. Staring at her work is oddly a lot like looking into the window to another dimension where I feel as if I could jump through and get lost in the world of heroines and Mr. Wiggles characters. I encourage anyone interested in comics, toy collecting or the arts in general to look up Tara, seeing that her work covers an array of genres, providing a little something for everyone.

Images courtesy of Desiree Neall for Poptimal.com.